Florida's aerospace agency flounders

Aaron Deslatte and Robert BlockSentinel Staff Writers

Gov. Charlie Crist, military brass and political elites went to Cape Canaveral in October to dedicate the signature achievement of the state's fledgling aerospace-development agency -- a multimillion-dollar future launchpad they hoped would grow into an international hub of private space flight.

But Thursday, legislative auditors said that Space Florida has yet to spell out what it wants to do -- and how it intends to accomplish its mission -- and recommended that lawmakers freeze spending until the agency does so.

"Its efforts to promote Florida's space industry are hindered by its failure to develop a comprehensive master plan," according to the Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. Space Florida, it said, has finished only one-quarter of the economic-development tasks lawmakers set out when they created the agency in 2006.

The report, written in typical low-key auditor style, added, "In the absence of a spaceport master plan, it is difficult for the Legislature to assess how Space Florida's efforts to improve various launch facilities will be expected to contribute to its overall mission of retaining and expanding Florida's space industry."

But several legislators saw the report as damning -- and an indication that the $14.5 million they appropriated to rebuild Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was in danger of being wasted.

"It's essential that we get to the bottom of this," said Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, a budget writer who is in line to be Senate president in 2010. "If they can't improve it, we need to figure out some way to do it better."

The report is the latest fissure running through Florida's space community, raising questions about whether the agency is up to the task of pushing the state to the forefront of commercial spaceflight.

Money for a rebuilt launchpad, intended to lure commercial ventures, has failed to attract a company willing to launch there. And the study found "there is some disagreement over the feasibility" of plans to have one pad serve different rockets.

Many engineers consider a common launchpad a bad idea. Configuration of service towers, fueling systems and pad clearances vary depending on the size and type of fuel used by a rocket, they say.

For example, United Launch Alliance, jointly owned by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., uses four pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for its three types of rockets that launch military, NASA and commercial satellites. Its Delta II-class rockets use separate pads because one is bigger and heavier than the other.

Rocket-company executives also worry about potential conflicts with other users of a shared pad. That's one reason that Space X, the largest new commercial spaceflight company launching in Florida, uses a pad it leases directly from the Air Force.

And Orbital Sciences Corp., which is developing a rocket to resupply the international space station, last year chose to launch from Virginia instead of the Cape.

But Space Florida defended its plan last week, writing to the Legislature's analysis and accountability office that the multiuse pad "not only can be done, it has been done."

And Space Florida spokeswoman Deborah Spicer said Thursday her agency has "a number of potential customers" interested in launching rockets as well as putting payloads on any spacecraft that take off from Launch Complex 36.

In a statement, Space Florida President Steve Kohler said the agency has begun work on a more detailed master plan. The agency wrote to the analysis and accountability office last week that it might even enlist the help of visiting Yale University architecture students "to assist us in our on-going planning needs, particularly during these very difficult financial cutbacks."

The agency said it planned to have the plan finalized by December.

"We were happy to support this requested review of how Space Florida is tracking in its responsibilities with the numerous statutory requirements," Kohler said.

Finishing work on the pad may require another $43 million from the Legislature during the next three years. Barney Bishop, president of Associated Industries of Florida, a business lobbying group that supports the state's commercial space push, said the recommendation to freeze spaceport funds "is going to complicate Space Florida's request."

Bishop said Space Florida needs "to give the Legislature comfort" by formalizing its plans but also can't afford to slow down and risk putting the state further behind competitors such as Virginia.

"They're probably moving slower than everybody would like to move," he said, "but don't hamper them fiscally in the meantime."

However, Senate economic-development budget chairman Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said his committee will hold hearings about the audit's findings. "There are definitely some questions that need to be asked and answered," he said of the report.

And given the state's looming budget deficit, he said, "If they want another $14.5 million, the chances of that happening are slim to none. And I would tell you it's closer to the none side."

Aaron Deslatte can be reached at adeslatte@orlandosentinel.com or 850-222-5564. Robert Block can be reached at 321-639-0522 or rblock@orlandosentinel.com.